Seldom do TV moments come along that capture the zeitgeist quite like ‘David’s dead’, ‘what a sad little life, Jane’ or ‘Hello Jill’, but Four In A Bed has delivered – and then some.
Hotel owner Saban delivered the plot twists of all twists, the creme de la creme of pettiness which, quite honestly, we should all strive for.
For anyone unfamiliar with the concept, Four In A Bed sees four rival bed and breakfast owners battle it out to be crowned the best hotel of the week.
Each team spends a night in each other’s venues, marking the quality of sleep, the cleanliness and value for money to ultimately decide if they’d stay there again.
At the end of the week, when every hotel has been evaluated, the teams decides how much a night in each venue is worth. They can under or overpay and whichever hotel receives the most amount of money relative to their actual cost, they’re the winner.
Rarely does television see sabotage like it, with players making each other down for the most ridiculous complaints but Saban’s stroke of genius game play is one for the history books.
Saban paid £500 for his stay at Mark and Anne’s B&B – overpaying by a whopping £220 which is pretty much unheard of.
He began by telling Mark and Anne that the huge sum was worth every penny. Anne was close to tears as he praised the luxury and attention to detail. ‘It was perfect,’ he said, explaining the first reason for his overpayment.
However, his tone swiftly turned a corner when he glared over to contestants Ami and Mark and snarled: ‘The other reason is, there is no way I can allow you two to win.’
Someone just hand over the National Television Award, already.
‘It was a game play from the start, the way I see it I cheated to stop the other cheaters winning,’ he continued.
Ami and Mark were shell-shocked, completely floored by the turn of events while everyone else in the room is clearly lapping up the drama, knowing full well they are bearing witness to life-changing television.
Naturally, the clip has gone viral and social media is ablaze with applause.
Jono Read shared the clip on X, with the comment: ‘Absolute cinema on Four in a Bed.’
Ben Hansen-Hicks went on to hail it as: ‘Omg this decade’s come dine with me worthy viral moment.’
Alongside a pictire of the legendary ‘Sad Little Life Jane’ incident from Come Dine With Me, Alex Watson said:’A worthy successor at last.’
‘This is what British TV is all about. Gimme more of this petty nonsense where everyone hates each other,’ wrote Jayneel Ramjee, while Kels compared the scenes to another legendary TV moment: ‘This is TV Gold. What an absolute legend. In the same way that the bloke broke Goldenballs as a gameshow, this guy has done the same here.’
Viewers backed Saban all the way, even if he did come last.
Not that he minded in the slightest, saying he was absolutely fine with being at the very bottom.
‘If they were going to play the game, I was going to play that too,’ he said.
Four In A Bed airs weekdays at 5pm on Channel 4.